News from 2015

Doc Lab Poland 2015

Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation is the organizer of the biggest Polish program for documentary filmmakers – DOC LAB POLAND. The first edition of the program took place in 2015.

The first session of the DOC LAB POLAND program for projects in the development stage was held in April 2015 in Warsaw at the Mazovian Institute of Culture and lasted for four days. The consultants at the session were the leading Polish documentary filmmakers: Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Paweł Łozinski, Bartek Konopka and Wojciech Staroń, and special guests: Leena Pasanen – the head of DOK Leipzig, the head of PR of New Horizons Festival – Marcin Pieńkowski and Izabela Łopuch – the head of HBO Poland. The Warsaw session was organized for projects in development. During the workshop the participants worked on their own ideas, learned the ins and outs of festival strategies and the film market and they also consulted with each other – DOC LAB POLAND is a program dedicated to film professionals what allowed it to gain, as a result, a new feature of a discussion group.

Presentations for film industry representatives took place on 4th and 5th June in Krakow as a part of the 55th Krakow Film Festival. DOCS TO START aimed at attracting partners, co-producers and soliciting funds. DOCS TO GO! took place at the Krakow Film Festival for the fourth time. It is a joint initiative of the Polish Film Institute and the Krakow Film Foundation and was organized together with Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation. Its aim was to obtain partners to provide distribution, sell licences and hold talks with festival qualifiers. A total of 23 full or medium-length documentary projects were presented at various development stages. Consultations before the DOCS TO START presentations in Krakow were led by: Leena Pasanen, the head of the European Documentary Network – Paul Pauwels and one of the most famous festival qualifiers – Rada Šešić. Training for the DOCS TO GO! participants was carried out by: Paul Pauwels and one of Europe’s leading sales agents – Irena Taskovski.

Every day after the presentations, producers and directors of all presented projects took part in 12 short (15 minute long) intensive meetings with the interested experts – a total of approx. 140 meetings a day. The workshop also held individual meetings – a total of more than 40 meetings. An additional element of the program was the PRODUCERS MEET PRODUCERS section where additionally invited Polish producers were able to meet producers from Europe and establish new contacts – approx. 40 such meetings were held. A total of approx. 350 meetings for producers, distributors, TV broadcasters, film funds, sales agents and festival qualifiers were held during the Krakow DOC LAB POLAND session.

At the finale gala event of the 55th Krakow Film Festival the most interesting projects were awarded prizes. Within DOCS TO START four awards were given:

• The HBO Award of 10,000 zł went to the documentary project „Divine”, dir. Barbara Białowąs, Katarzyna Trzaska, prod. Katarzyna Trzaska. The award was presented by Hanka Kastelicova, an HBO Europe producer responsible for the production of documentaries.
• The Krakow Film Cluster Award of 10,000 zł – a production voucher (for film equipment rental from the cluster companies in order to carry through the winning project) went to the documentary project „I want to tell you everything”, dir. Zvika Gregory Portnoy, prod. Maria Krauss.
• The DOK Leipzig Award – an invitation to the 11th International Co-production Meetings during the DOK Leipzig festival covering the costs of accreditation and three-night accommodation for the documentary project „Wind”, dir. Michal Bielawski, prod. Maciej Kubicki.
• The European Documentary Network Award – participation in a workshop organized by EDN for the documentary project „Mr. John and his 40 girlfriends”, dir. and prod. Jacob Dammas.

As part of the DOCS TO GO! the following awards were given:

• The Krakow Film Cluster Award of 25,000 zł – a post-production voucher (for post-production studio rental from the cluster companies in order to carry through the winning project) went to the documentary project „21 x New York”, dir. Piotr Stasik, prod. Agnieszka Wasiak. The award was presented by Aneta Zagórska, a Krakow Film Cluster representative.
• In addition, the head of DOK Leipzig – Leena Pasanen and Rada Šešić – a festival qualifier (Amsterdam, Sarajevo) decided to award a DOCS TO START project which evolved the most during the program. A year of artistic tutelage of Leena Pasanen and Rada Šešić went to the documentary project „Diagnosis”, dir. Ewa Podgórska, prod. Małgorzta Wabińska.

The last session of the DOC LAB POLAND program – consultations of documentary projects in development – took place in mid-October at the Mazovian Cultural Institute in Warsaw. The classes were conducted by: Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Pawel Łozinski and the producer Anna Wydra.

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More: www.doclab.pl.

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